Cooking Accessories for Solar Ovens

A reflector solar cooker, one of several kinds of solar ovens. | Source

You can, of course, do some basic solar cooking with very
few accessories. In fact, a Mason jar, turkey bag, and windshield reflector are
all you need to heat soup or cook beans. When if comes to "simple,"
solar cooking is one step up from roasting a hot dog over a fire. Once you
start cooking with the sun, however, you will find yourself trying more complex
recipes. You've just cooked chili, and you find yourself wondering if you could
make cornbread. You've just done a chicken, and you find yourself wondering
about a turkey. For the more complicated projects, a few accessories can be
helpful.

Solar Oven Thermometer

The most useful accessory—some may even call it an essential—is a thermometer. Especially if your oven is homemade or underpowered, it's essential to know whether you've brought the temperature inside it out of the "danger zone." The danger zone for food is 40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. For food safety, you need to make sure the inside of your oven stays above 140 degrees and the food you're cooking gets hotter than 165 degrees. If your oven temperature is only around 160 degrees and you're cooking something that heats slowly—something large or with a lot of liquid, for example—your food could easily breed contaminants.

One way of making sure your food is safe is to pair an oven thermometer with an instant read thermometer. The oven thermometer stays in the oven. You use the instant-read thermometer by opening the lid and pushing the thermometer into the thickest part of the food. The problem with this method is that you have to open your oven to take the readings. Solar ovens lose heat rapidly and take some time to regain the heat lost.

A better method is to use a thermometer with a dual probe. One part of the probe measures the temperature of the oven while the other part remains in the food and measure its temperature. The cord from the thermometer probe runs to a digital display outside your oven. Without opening the oven, you can tell both oven and food temperature. I use the Polder Dual Sensor Thermometer and find it works very well for the purpose. Component Design NW also has a version.

Solar Cooking Pots

You can use any pot you use on top of the stove or in a
conventional oven for solar cooking.
Some, however, work better than others.
The last thing you want in a solar oven pot is one that takes forever to
heat up. Theoretically, that means you
want a pot made from a material with good thermal conductivity. Aluminum and copper have good
conductivity. Steel, glass, clay, and
silicon conduct less well. Other
factors, however, come in to play as well.
A thin pot heats up better than a heavy one. Cast iron, for example, holds heat well, but
takes literally hours to get up to cooking temperature, even without any food
in it. A dark-colored pot absorbs light
and emits infrared (heat) better than a light-colored pot. A clear lid can make the pot function almost
like a solar oven within a solar oven, so it works somewhat better than an
opaque lid. Theoretically, a very lightweight,
black, copper pot with a clear lid would be ideal. Unfortunately, nobody I know of makes such a
pot.

The best option I've found is low-carbon steel enamelware or
graniteware. The steel may not be the
best material in terms of conductivity, but since the sides of these pans are
typically quite thin, that low conductivity isn't much of a problem. The black absorbs heat easily. The heat is transferred efficiently to the
food, and the lid keeps the heat in the pot with the food. The other nice thing about these pans is that
if I want to start the food on the stove and finish it in the solar oven, I can
do that with enamelware pans. I can't
with, for example, a black ceramic casserole dish.

Oven Gloves

My solar oven has latches I can't open while wearing heavy
oven mitts. An Ove Glove allows me to
open the oven, take out one pot, and close up the oven to continue cooking a
second pot without putting on and taking off oven mitts. They're a luxury, not a necessity for solar
cooking, but I like them.

Solar Cookbooks

If you are just starting out and have no idea how to cook in
your solar oven, a cookbook can be a big help.
Solar Cooking by Harriet Kofalk and Warren Jefferson has instructions
for making a simple cardboard solar cooker as well as recipes and cooking
hints. What makes this book unique is
the section of solar canning and drying.
Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cuisine with 150 Easy
Sun-Cooked Recipes by Lorraine Anderson and Rick Palkovic is a beginners'
guide. It has instruction for a simple
cardboard box cooker as well as recipes. Solar Cooking for Home and Camp by
Linda Yaffe has an introduction to solar cooking and recipes. The Sunny Side of Cooking by Lisa Rayner
has 100+ vegan recipes as well as an introduction several other methods of
cooking without electricity of gas.

Comments

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DuchessDuCaffeine

7 years agofrom United States of America

I can't wait to try this in my backyard! Seriously -- I'm going to try it in my backyard because I don't want to wait ;)

Of all my family and friends, I am the "What If" person. What if the electric goes out? What if there's a flood? What if aliens invade? Life is unpredictable, but it doesn't mean we don't have to go through a crisis without a clean change of underwear and warm food, right?

Sun-Girl

7 years agofrom Nigeria

New and interesting cooking tips which i will like try. Nice hub and thanks for sharing.

Sally Branche

7 years agofrom Only In Texas!

Well what wonderful, common sense ideas you have! With this kind of information, anyone can go solar! Voted up and useful! ;D

M.S. Ross

7 years ago

Summertime is a great time to try out solar cooking! And it can even be chalked up as a science experiment for kids. My own son's science fair project was on cooking using a solar oven. He constructed his oven out of a simple cardboard box painted black, so while the fancy solar accoutrements are nice, they definitely aren't necessary to get the job done. That being said, the dual sensor thermometer sounds like a very handy gadget!

Welcome to HubPages, and congrats on your HubNuggets nomination!

FloraBreenRobison

7 years ago

Ah, solar power cooking isn't really possible for most of the year here in Southern B.C. :)

I'm beginning to believe there are cookbooks on every sub-category of cooking available.

Congratulations on your hubnugget nomination

cardelean

7 years agofrom Michigan

I have always joked about it being hot enough to fry an egg but have never actually tried it. Fantastic hub,thanks for the great information.

Stephanie Bradberry

7 years agofrom New Jersey

This is great information. I really did not know there were solar cook books. How fun!

Michelle Simtoco

7 years agofrom Cebu, Philippines

This is the first time I've heard of this and it is exciting to know too. Why just this morning we were talking about solar lamps and solar cars and now there is solar cooking accessories, cool!

This is interesting. Like Pamela, I was unaware that these solar items existed. Thanks!

AUTHOR

Sue_in_garden

7 years agofrom Arizona

You're welcome, Pamela. I think probably my favorite of all of them is the dual sensor thermometer. On hot days like this I run the cord under the sun shutter and set the read-out on the sliding glass door ledge. I don't even have to open the door to know what temperatures the food and the oven are.

Pamela Oglesby

7 years agofrom Sunny Florida

This is a very interesting hub. I didn't know about some of these solar items and thanks for the information.

Patty Inglish MS

7 years agofrom USA. Member of Asgardia, the first space nation, since October 2016

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